


Distraction

by gambas_droobles



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, M/M, i dont really know what this is, pinning
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-26
Updated: 2020-07-26
Packaged: 2021-03-06 04:00:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,661
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25536991
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gambas_droobles/pseuds/gambas_droobles
Summary: There was this thing about Shibayama that everyone seemed to know. He was only in his second semester into the university, but people whom he had any chance encounters with and people with whom he was unexpectedly acquainted, they all soon found out about Shibayama’s determination. He wouldn’t back down from anything he wanted to achieve, and some tall handsome silver-haired boy from one of his lectures won't change that.
Relationships: Haiba Lev/Shibayama Yuuki
Comments: 4
Kudos: 17





	Distraction

**Author's Note:**

> this?? idk what this is??? i'm stuck on a dialog in my other fic (the ["you're not alone. not any more."](https://archiveofourown.org/works/25302355/chapters/61346059)) so i wanted to write something without any dialog,, and this is what i got
> 
> unbeta'd
> 
> so, hope you like it

There was this thing about Shibayama that everyone seemed to know. He was only in his second semester into the university, but people whom he had any chance encounters with and people with whom he was unexpectedly acquainted, they all soon found out about Shibayama’s determination. He wouldn’t back down from anything he wanted to achieve, he didn’t back down from proving himself and showing other people that despite his outer appearance he _can_. 

Perhaps that also was a part of a reason why he was such a great student. Shibayama found pride in completing all of his tasks as they came along and spending all the free time he got on the court, practicing. There was a list of things he wanted to achieve and he couldn’t waste any time on anything unimportant, anything that wouldn’t bring him closer to his goals. 

And, boy, what big plans he had for himself. 

Shibayama couldn’t afford to settle for anything but his best. Especially since his best wasn’t always _the best_ objectively. 

So when a challenge would come alone, he would rise to face it and wouldn’t stop until he emerged victorious. 

Even if that sudden challenge turned out to be an overgrown silver-haired boy from one of his classes. With tangly limbs and well built muscles he posed a threat to Shibayama and Shibayama had to eliminate the threat. 

He and the other student were polar opposites. Where Shibayama would just pack his belongings and leave straight back to his dorm to start his new assignment, the boy would stay behind, collecting people around him and, Shibayama was almost perfectly sure, he didn’t spend the majority of his time studying and working on his grade. Where Shibayama would accomplish a project assigned and walk out with an almost perfect grade, the other boy would stay behind asking their professor if there was anything he could do, any extra assignments, to pick up his grades. Where Shibayama felt no need to make unnecessary acquaintances and lose time building friendships that wouldn’t last, the other boy made sure to talk to everyone in their class, always having a group of friends around and talking. Yuuki noticed that this boy talked a lot, but he never stayed long enough for the boy to learn his name. The boy never arrived early enough for them to have a chat before class. 

It didn’t bother Shibayama at all, he was fine not talking to this tall and well-versed boy, who seemed to always catch his attention in class. It looked like the boy noticed Shibayama’s determination to not make any verbal attempts on becoming familiar with each other and didn’t attempt to break the growing silence between the two of them. Shibayama didn’t mind, he was thankful instead, no interaction meant no distraction and he couldn’t afford distractions. 

Everything was okay like that up until the moment when Shibayama found the mysterious tangly boy on the court with him. Turns out they were playing the same sport but at different time and didn’t encounter each other prior to something changing in the schedule of the other boy. Now they started seeing each other just once a week, every Wednesday from 2:30pm to 4:00pm in their shared lecture, where they didn’t have any need to actually make any conversation nor connections. Now they saw each other four times per week, three of them being during their shared volleyball practice. The other boy played middle-blocker’s position and Shibayama found himself more and more behind the boy’s back, ready to save the ball, to not leave their team without defence. 

They still managed to not make any conversation, choosing instead to communicate with small gestures and side glances. One of the members of their team, one with whom Shibayama couldn’t help becoming friends with, Inuoka, noticed. It didn’t surprise Shibayama, the boy had an eye out for his friends and words were a big part of his daily life and communication was even more so important. Exchanging pleasantries and small talk every chance he got, joining a conversation as a bee flying to a flower to collect more pollen for the honey. Even Shibayama couldn’t escape this boy, falling into an acquaintanceship and awhile after that into an even deeper pool of actual friendship like a fish trapped into fisher’s net with no chance of escaping. But unlike a fish, Shibayama didn’t find it in himself to be disappointed with how the things tourneys out to be. Inuoka didn’t seem like a person who would flake on you, forget about you if you didn’t see each other for a few months. He would always engage a conversation on his own and wouldn’t force Shibayama into being as friendly and talkative as he was. So when his oh so attentive friend noticed the lack of verbal exchange between him and the silver-haired middle-blocker, with big forest green eyes, Shibayama wasn’t surprised he brought it up right after. 

During that conversation he learned the mysterious boy’s name. Haiba Lev. 

It suited him. 

But then knowing Haiba became a challenge to Shibayama. They would accidentally cross paths on the campus territory, they would spot each other across the room of the student cafeteria or in the only coffee shop on the campus grounds. As if faith had its own plan for Shibayama, as if it wanted to challenge him and see if he would take the bait, if he was like everybody else, assuming that there was a reason behind him seeing Haiba so much. So often. It was confusing for sure, for one, why didn’t they see each other before this? Or what was it about Haiba that caught his eye and pulled him in as if in a stream of water? But Shibayama was raised to believe he had to always swim against the current, to fight and prove himself. To achieve his goals and show everyone who he was. 

But then in his life appeared Haiba, making his knees weak and knocking the air out of his lungs. Making him stumble, move his focus away from just straight ahead to his goal. Shibayama felt an immense need to show that Haiba couldn’t stop him, couldn’t ruin his plans, couldn’t make him lose his footing, couldn’t distract him. 

And to prove that he resigned to not let himself give in and start a verbal conversation between the two of them. Somehow it became a game of who ever will give in first, who would be the one to fall into the trap. It felt like they both were moths seeing who would fly into the light first. It didn’t surprise Shibayama when he realised that if Haiba was to give in to temptation and fly into the light, he would follow suit.

As Icarus, Shibayama now had to keep his way high enough above the water and low enough under the sun, not giving in to any to keep his wings intact and save himself from falling. 

Except Shibayama had a lingering feeling somewhere deep inside himself that told him that he would still fall and fall deep. Bathing could help or save him, a path was laid out and there was no way to turn away from it. Shibayama felt himself on the way to his own doom, unable to do anything about it. He was scared of what awaited him ahead but he didn’t want to know that either. It was intriguing as much as it was frightening. It also was an undeniable challenge and if there was one thing Shibayama had hard time saying no to - it was a good challenge. 

So he let this game between him and Haiba play on, no longer surprised when they saw each other, but a knowing look passing between them, as if saying that _no, not today, I won't give in, I won't fly into the sun, i won't fall_. And as if faith was indeed dancing charades with the two of them, the times they would accidentally encounter grew as yeast dough. It grew so much that other people but the two of them and Inuoka recognised their conflict and bet on who out of the two would lose. Sometimes a few students would rush into the room and spot Shibayama right before Haiba entered. There would be an audience watching their interaction curiously, looking for the smallest things, tiniest mistakes. Shibayama didn't like that but there was also nothing much he could do about it, so he let it happen, just like he let his clashes with a tall silver-haired boy with an absolutely mesmerising smile happen. 

Up until the moment they suddenly stopped.

There wasn't anything Shibayama could know about Haiba without ever having an actual conversation with the silver-haired boy and his well defined muscles and other handsome features, Yuuki always had to stop himself dwelling upon. But when he suddenly stopped seeing the boy around, Yuuki could tell that something was wrong, and when, the nearest Wednesday, Lev didn't come to lecture, not even an hour late as he sometimes did, the feeling settled deep into Shibayama's bones and he found himself worrying over someone he never spoke to. People who would make bets on them and follow Shibayama around at times also seemed to have noticed something. But unlike Yuuki they soon figured out what happened by the way of small conversation and gossip that looked like it followed students around everywhere. Shibayama felt like there was a vague mist that enveloped everyone around him with the knowledge of what happened, a mist that would withdraw away from Shibayama as if he was an anemoi, blowing everything away from himself. 

And as if luck had also turned it's face away from him, Shibayama found himself unable to focus, not competent enough to actually finish anything he started nor start anything he needed to finish. He ended up awake in the middle of night, worry and anxiety over not being productive keeping the sleep away from him but also wading off any chance of productivity. Wondering outside the dorm complex in the early hours of the morning or the late hours of the night, proved itself to be a calming exercise for Shibayama, who finally felt his shoulders relax a little in the chilly wind of the night. With all the stress he endured in the university and all the unnecessary over-achieving he did, it was a wonder that he had yet to pick up smocking. It was probably the most expected time and place for someone notice him lighting a cigarette and taking a deep inhale in. But as with most things, Shibayama found it enough for himself to just breath in the cold air outside.

He wandered around for what might have been a few hours or only fifteen minutes. Shibayama didn't feel like checking time on his phone and letting the guilt of staying up so late crawl it's way inside of him. He settled on watching the way the pitch black sky slowly grew lighter with a few shades of blue. He couldn't see much of the stars above him, after all living in the middle of a city, with smog clouding over them and hiding the beauty of the blinking light and stopping the devastating feeling of being miserably small in the wast space of their universe with all of it's uncharted territory and all the unknowns it his inside itself. Shibayama wondered if the universe also held the answers to his unknowns, if it was like the pandora box in some way or another. Hw wondered if he actually wanted to know the answers, if he was ready for them. But first and foremost, if he was ready to face his own questions. 

Soft footsteps broke Shibayama out of his thoughts and he turned to look at the person approaching him. 

Faith was probably indeed playing games with Shibayama, or there was a glitch in the matrix, because the person who approached him was none other than Haiba Lev. One of Shibayama's unknowns. 

Lev walked up to him and then just stood by his side, looking up into still a deep dark blue sky, as if he was also looking for answers. Shibayama speculated if he and Haiba shared any of the same questions, that perhaps if they opened the pandora box of this universe, some of the answers for them would be the same, would be one.

Yuuki couldn't stop his gaze from lingering on Lev's figure before he also turned his head up, hoping that the million questions inside him would stay inside, that no matter the vulnerable hour, their closeness or the fact that there were no people making bets around them, would make Shibayama break. Wouldn't make him say something short but immensely big like ' _hey_ ' break the silence between them, make Lev the victor of their game and Shibayama emerge defeated. 

Inside, Yuuki was at war. He wanted to do something, to maybe brake the silence between them with a gesture, to perhaps find another way for them to communicate _not verbally_. He cursed himself that he didn't have any paper nor a pen with him, that he couldn't give Haiba his phone number so they could text and become closer without talking. Ha hated his fear of braking this enchanted moment by pulling out his phone, seeing the time and realising that decisions he makes now might not be that very well thought through. 

Yuuki hated himself for his determination for the first time since he could remember. Because right now his determination on winning stopped him from reaching out to Lev, from learning more about the boy, from becoming closer with him, from actually letting himself learn and feel the things he tried to burry deep every time he was next to Haiba. He felt lost behind a limitation he set for himself, trapped in his own trap he didn't realise he had set for himself. And there was nothing much for him left to do than to think about all this, enjoying what little of the moment he could, being happy that nothing really bad happened to Lev and he was standing next to him.

For the first time in the last week, Yuuki felt himself relax and unwillingly, on his weak legs, tired from missing too many hours of sleep, he leaned into Lev's side. But instead of the taller boy stepping away startled or angry, a hand wrapped itself around his shoulders, pulling him closer to Lev. Closer until he was pressed to the other's boy stomach with his back, two hands wrapping in front of him and a head resting on his own. 

Maybe it was the late or early hour, maybe it was his exhaustion or how close he was to Lev, but Yuuki let himself relax fully, falling deeper into the hug and closing his eyes. He suddenly felt extremely tired and on the verge of falling asleep, but he also felt very safe in Lev's arms, safe, comfortable and as if he fitted perfectly in Lev's hands, as if he was made to fit in here. 

As sleep made his eyelids grow heavier and the warmth around him feel the inevitable arrival of Morpheus, Yuuki thought that maybe it wasn't such a bad idea to give Lev his phone number so they could communicate through text. He would only just let his eyes rest for a little while and then he would reach for his phone in his front jeans pocket and he would give it to Lev, without any words indicating to the boy to put his number in. And then maybe he would text him that small but very big word ' _hey_ '. 

And maybe, if he actually learned more about Lev, he would be less distracted. Maybe this boy wasn't a distraction, perhaps the distraction was Shibayama denying himself knowing Lev.

**Author's Note:**

> as per usual you can find me on [twitter](https://twitter.com/GambasOfficial) and [tumblr](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/australia0101)


End file.
